RIP Saigon Digital Marketing Conference: How not to Market in Asia IV

We hardly knew ye - A little over a year ago I wrote a post called, "A Tale of Many Marketing Conferences in Vietnam"and this year there is at least one less, The Saigon Digital Marketing Conference, or SDM. And unfortunately, that's not a surprise. I had laid out the warning signs well before the actual event, starting with the idea that they had nicked the entire concept from a worldwide series of conferences called ad:tech and ending with the idea that if they didn't pay speakers, they would get rubbish for content. And so that has come to pass.

In a conversation recently with one of the still standing Saigon digerati he summed it up like this: "They went belly up. They spent too much money, charged too much money, not enough interesting content and nobody behind it seemed to know anything about digital."And wow, a year before, I had said this:1) Concept (1 star) - Nicking a business model from the US and just sticking it in Vietnam is not a concept". And the organizers weren't even from Vietnam - Singapore it seems.

But I had outlined three other key points to organizers well before the actual event in May of 09: #1 - Paying real speakers when you're actually in it to make money shows people that you are serious and have a real business plan. #2 - making sure the event has legs, ie: you could run it in Shanghai or Bangkok or Mumbai after it's finished here gives you a real business all year. #3 - Building a community is what Internet marketing is really all about.

And unfortunately, they had failed at every single one of those tasks before they were even out of the gate a year ago. And that's sad. Because they had good advice, and none of us want to see another of us fail, and what they were able to pull off last year, for a first event, was a pretty good start.

So to round this off, I'm sorry they're gone. They had my, and the whole of Saigon's digerati behind them, but needed to pull partners together, pay for better advice and build a real community of business people, all making a buck together, to keep it going. I was wary from the start when they wanted to make money but seemed to think all the participants should work for free - and you should be too. When the only party in your next business deal making money is the other guy, beware - there are too many places to run when it's all over. These folks went to Bangkok.


For more on digital marketing and social networking see:

Xing vs. LinkedIn: Round II
Trial and Error: The New Normal
What's Wrong With My Social Networking? Xing vs. LinkedIn I
Low Tech Germany. Who Knew?
Advertising People and Blogs
How to Write the Best Blog in the World
What If Gutenberg Had a Blog?
If Blogs Are Free Does That Make Them Worthless?
Detri-Viral Marketing II: The Top 10 Social Media Blunders
Bright Lights, Big Internet and the WWED
Saigon Digital Marketing Conference Successfully Avoids Plumbers Convention
A Tale of Many Marketing Conferences
Detri-Viral Marketing I: How Web 2.0 Can Go Against A Brand
Marketing Predictions for 2009
Barcamp Saigon 2008
"Ignore Everybody" is Born: A Plug for Hugh MacLeod
Are the Bloggerati Missing the Market? Asia has Risen,
Into the Gapinvoid - Web 2.0 Social Networking Born 20 Years Ago

The Wild Wild East goes West. Onward ho!

And away we go! From Ho Chi MinhCity to Hanoi to Bangkok to Munich to Paris and finally to Bamako,Mali - Africa! And damn near close to Timbuktu. Yes, that fabled city is actually in Mali. Or will the trip change? Just had a call that it would be better to go just from Hanoi to Frankfurt and then take the train to Munich. Whatever. Trips like this can't be planned down to the last detail, although we're certainly trying. The reasons for this itinerary are trade secrets of Infinite Wisdom. and can't be divulged but suffice to say it's a trip that combines business and pleasure and is sure to provide plenty of fodder for this writer. When I get the photograph of me standing in front of the sign that says, "Timbuktu - Population 32,000", that will be the day. Here's a snippet of what to expect: "The first European acknowledged to have reached Timbuktu was Scottish explorer Gordon Laing. He left Tripoli in 1825 and traveled for a year and a month to reach Timbuktu. On the way, he was attacked by the ruling Tuareg nomads and was shot, cut by swords, and broke his arm. He recovered from the vicious attack and made his way to Timbuktu and arrived in August 1826. He was unimpressed with Timbuktu, which had, as Leo Africanus reported, become simply a salt trading outpost filled with mud-walled homes in the middle of a barren desert. Laing remained in Timbuktu for just over one month. Two days after leaving Timbuktu, Laing was murdered." And that's just the beginning, I'm sure. Munich will be absolutely charming and our contacts in town will be charming as well I suspect - painters and curious sorts are on the docket. Paris, which I have visited before, is always charming and the price of Le Big Mac is reported to be $4.09, more for the meal deal with fries and a Coke, of which I will certainly have more than one. It's amazing how an American's taste for fast food can suddenly reappear when he has been denied such sustenance for the past 3 1/2 years - as well as how visions of Henry Miller appear in relation to the trip and the curiosities surrounding it. Who actually plans to go from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi to Frankfurt to Munich to Paris and then on to Mali with a return to Vietnam, forecast for 6 months? Well, the Infinite Wisdom. team does and the real reasons why don't really matter. It's so much more like the answer to the question, "Why does a dog lick himself?" - because he can. The last few days have been filled with budget planning, minor arguments and all the anticipation one might expect with an adventure of this magnitude. WTF? Sometimes you just have to do things because it is possible. Screw the logic. That's for people who create actuary tables for insurance companies. I wonder just exactly how much cheese I can stuff into my pie hole in three days in Paris? That's the sort of thing I care about - and whether I will be kidnapped by Al Qaeda while in Mali. That's been reported as of late. A contact on Facebook today from John Taylor, head of British American Tobacco in Russia and my old client from Korea told me that he was responsible for all of BAT's activities in Africa, so who knows, I could be selling the white man's drugs to African's soon. Whatever makes a buck. In so many ways, it's amazing what opportunities pop up once you say you're going to Europe and Africa. Doors just start opening. I found 850 people in Mali on LinkedIn and joined the Business in Mali group. Who knew? For my readers in Germany, I'm way up for a meetup when I get there. I'll be blogging and Tweeting all the way so do feel free to contact me on Facebook, Twitter or through email. I'd like to hook up with advertising and marketing folks when I'm there - and Paris too! Anybody from Paris out there? I'm still waiting for my first blog hit from Mali, too...won't be long. Wrapping up this last week, a friend of mine recommended my book, Wild Wild East, to his agent in New York, so please say a wee prayer for me - looks like I could get a two book deal out of it once Infinite Wisdom hits the trail to Europe and Africa!

For more in the WWE Goes West Series check here:

I) The Wild Wild East Goes West: Onward Ho!
II) Frankfurt
III) C'est Si Bon
IV) Bon Jour Paris!
V) Les Picassos en Paris
VI) Nothing Much Happened en Paree Today
VII) Paris Wallpaper: Sometimes The Best Prayers Have No Words
VIII) Au Revoir Paris
IX) Is Publicis Groupe a Dead Brand?